Jamesina Boyd

Jamesina started volunteering 19 years ago in 2005 whilst she was attending breast cancer support meetings, which were hosted in the Ardgowan Hospice hub. She made friends in that group that she still has today. She started with doing fundraising events like hosting bake sales and coffee mornings at the Lyle Kirk (her local church, which she’s heavily involved with). She then got the all clear from breast cancer and continued to help with fundraising events, helping in the finance department for a few years and also in the kitchen for a few years before moving on to reception, where she’s been for 5 years. 

She explained that ‘when you get help like I did at the hospice, you give back what you can’. She has been dedicated to helping the local community through her work at the church and also with the hospice, raising its profile and helping to raise thousands of pounds over the years. Her sense of community and want to help others shine through in her work ethic and easy-going nature. 

Before her volunteering career, she worked for 25 years on the telephone switchboard at the IRH and so knows a lot of the local healthcare staff, as they would talk to her when they were doing training themselves at the hospital. She’s built relationships with staff, other volunteers and service users over these 19 years and is a true embodiment of the hospice values. 

Rita Brown

We have had the pleasure of getting to know Rita over the last year. She has helped out with ‘meet and greet’ at the Access Reception, fundraising events like bag packing at the supermarkets and other fundraising events. 

In Rita’s own words, “Volunteering is as much for the organisation as it is for me”. She gets a lot back from feeling helpful and wants to continue to support her community whilst she’s able to. Rita was a social worker for all her working life and alongside her work and looking after her family, she volunteered with a soup run for people who didn’t have homes or means to make a hot meal themselves and also helped out at the IRH tea bar after having her second child. Giving back and volunteering, looking after those around her, is very important to her and gives her a sense of belonging and brings her great joy. 

Rita is such an easy and joyful person to be around; she is always happy to help and really does bring a great energy to the hospice! We are very lucky to have her and hope she’ll continue for a long time in our new Access Reception.

Drew

“My name is Drew, I am nearly 19 years old.

“I chose to pick to work at the Hospice when I left school last year in April. I was signed up for college in August and had some spare time, so I wanted to be useful in some way and learn some work skills.

“I came in and met Katrina, the retail manager. Katrina was very friendly and got me started as a volunteer Van assistant. I  started with two shifts a week helping the van drivers, Steven and Wuillie, with deliveries to all the hospice shops. When I started my college course, I kept up my volunteering one shift a week and more during the holidays. I have enjoyed every minute of the experience I have learned how to work in a team.  We work hard but have fun too.  The van drivers are good at showing me and teaching me how to do the job.

“I enjoy meeting all the people who work in the shops too, they are good for biscuits when we are dropping stuff for them. I have made good friends too.

“I would recommend everyone to volunteer at Ardgowan Hospice!”

Jessie Docherty

Jessie started her volunteering journey 16 years ago after she had a brain surgery and needed to re learn the functions of daily living. Whilst recovering, Jessie wanted to get back to her work, however, her surgeon and occupational therapist believed that she wasn’t ready for that yet and encouraged her to try volunteering to get her confidence and skillset back. Her OT brought her to the hospice to meet the volunteer coordinator, however, Jessie was reluctant and it took a while before she came in to chat. 

After winning her over, the volunteer coordinator asked her to make scrapbooks of old Greenock Telegraphs as we needed things to be documented properly and in date order to preserve the information over time. Jessie has made this task her own over the 16 years she’s been with us, making numerous scrapbooks, ensuring that all local news is preserved. 

During the last 10 years or so, she has built really meaningful relationships, especially with our Fundraising Manager Joanna Hunter, who has helped and supported her as she was able to find herself again after such a massive life-changing event. These relationships and learning new skills through all of the administrative work she’s done have been hugely beneficial.

Jessie is also always happy to help support the fundraising team whenever she can. She enjoys walking from the Gourock train station to McInroy’s Point each day, and on her walks, will go into shops and pubs and other businesses to see if they will be willing to support the hospice in any way. She has been very persuasive and will get donations from most places she tries! 

When we asked Jessie what volunteering means to her, she said, “The Hospice helped me get back to myself, they helped me get perspective on life and my abilities.”

Matthew Barlett

Matthew started volunteering with Ardgowan Hospice six months ago and offers a warm welcome to patients, staff and visitors at the inpatient unit on Nelson Street every Saturday afternoon.

Matthew said: “I definitely wanted to give something back after taking early retirement. I wasn’t sure what area of volunteering I wanted to do, so I’ve ended up doing quite a lot of things. I think people often assume volunteering at a hospice would involve directly working with patients – and maybe they find that a bit intimidating.”

“Actually, there’s a whole range of things you do. I work on reception, trying to create a welcoming atmosphere for our colleagues, patients and visitors – but I could be driving patients around, or helping in the hospice shop, or fundraising.”

While regularly covering the reception desk on Saturdays, Matthew also helps out on weekdays to ensure someone is available to greet visitors and answer phones. Matthew is often the first point of contact for those seeking to access services offered by the hospice and we are very grateful to have his support!

Pauline McAlpine

She has been a Trustee for nearly three years (started in June, official start date was September) and has enjoyed and valued her time here immensely. She explained how the rest of the trustees have been so welcoming and sharing in their knowledge and expertise with her, helping her to adjust to the expectation of being a Trustee. 

She had volunteered when her children were young in her local community and their schools, and had wanted to give something back once they had left home. She found herself with more time and as both the community team and ward helped when her father had passed away a number of years ago. 

Pauline explained that volunteering with the Hospice has helped her feel like she is able to help others, like they were supported with help through her dad’s passing. She admired all of the help, information, mental health support that was offered for the whole family during this time and after his passing. They all felt like they couldn’t have been in better hands. 

She also explained how having volunteers helps all of the hospice’s services run better and enables it to offer more to everyone around Inverclyde. Without our volunteer’s there wouldn’t be a transport service, or able to raise funds through our shops or events. Their support is vital to everyone’s success. 

If you are interested in volunteering or would like to find out more, please visit our volunteering webpage, contact volunteering@ardgowanhospice.org or pop into Ardgowan Hospice’s reception!